League of Women Voters sparks renewable energy discussion

That is the message the Columbia-Boone County chapter of the
League of Women Voters tried to send residents at its Green Power Forum on
Tuesday night. The league worked to present people with relevant information
about renewable energy sources.

The Friends Room at Columbia Public Library was filled with
people passionate about renewable and efficient energy. Before the start of the
forum, casual discussions could be heard relating to electricity generators,
heat and wind turbines.

Four panelists were allotted 10 minutes each to speak about a different
form of energy, addressing subjects including how each type has been used in
Columbia and what it would take to increase their output.

Hank Stelzer, an MU Extension forestry specialist, spoke first about the MU Power Plant’s use of biomass and also addressed what types of materials can be transformed into
energy. Stelzer explained that biomass is made commonly from
switch grass, hay crops, tree chips and urban waste, such as storm debris.

He said by the end of the
summer or early fall of 2012, the power plant will have a generator that burns biomass exclusively.

Charles Pappas, of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, discussed the pros and cons of wind energy, saying it is free and clean but also variable — it doesn't blow with the same strength
every day or at the same times of day.

Pappas said wind variability can be managed by
increasing the number of wind turbines in an area but creating reliable
wind energy is expensive. Pappas projected that a single wind turbine can cost
between $1.5 million and $2.5 million. Due to the struggling economy,
however, the price of turbines has averaged most recently at $1.6 million.

Additional costs of wind energy include its transmission.

“Wind energy tends to be where no one is living,” Pappas
said. “So, you have to transport it where the people are.”

Jay Hasheider, energy services supervisor at Columbia Water and Light, told Tuesday’s crowd that the city's solar work began in 2007 with a
small-scale demonstration at the Columbia Area Career Center.

He also addressed what Water and Light is doing to
encourage solar energy use, including $400 or $800 rebates
to individuals for installing solar water heating in their homes and $500
rebates for each kilowatt of power up to 10 kilowatts for installing solar
electric systems.

Hasheider also discussed Columbia’s Solar One program, which challenges the city to get 1 percent of its power
from the sun by 2023. The program started in June 2008.

Customers who are interested in promoting solar
energy can pay an additional $4 a month, which the city uses to pay for solar panels placed around the community. It is the
hope that with this program, local businesses will become solar producers by
constructing buildings with solar panels and selling their energy to the
utility company in 10-year contracts.

“The price of solar is coming down and all the predictions
say that will continue in the future,” Hasheider said.

Dick Parker, a member of the league's energy matters committee and a retired biologist, discussed his plan for Columbia, which
would greatly increase the city’s use of renewable energy and allow for 80
percent carbon-free electricity by 2020. His strategy calls for 51.9 percent of
Columbia’s energy to come from biomass, 20.1 percent from wind and 3.4 percent
from solar power.

According a renewable energy ordinance put in place on Nov.
2, 2004, and approved by 77 percent of voters, Columbia must generate 5 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by the end of 2012. Furthermore, the city must generate another 5 percent of its electricity from renewable energy every five years until the year 2022.

“We can do it,” Parker said. “We can move to renewable
energy; it is basically an issue of citizens’ will.”